No ordinance on use of Hindi as official language passed: Venkaiah Naidu

DMK Working President MK Stalin said that the Parliamentary Committee proposed to make Hindi mandatory for Members of Parliament and Union Ministers who know Hindi to use it.

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday while addressing media said that it is totally false and mischievous to allege that an ordinance for use of Hindi as an official language has been passed.

''Parliamentary Committee on Official Language only recommendatory and not mandatory,'' he said.

His comments came in the backdrop allegations levelled by certain quarters that the Modi government is trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states. DMK leader M K Stalin has accused the Centre of trying to relegate people who don't speak Hindi, to second-class citizens and of pushing the country into becoming 'Hindia'.

The controversy was generated after President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the recommendation of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language that all dignitaries including the president and ministers, especially those who can read and speak Hindi, may be requested to give their speech/statement in Hindi only.

The president has accepted several other recommendations, including making announcements on board aircraft in Hindi followed by English.

It may be recalled that DMK was a member of the government of India in 2011 when this recommendation was made and forwarded by the Parliamentary Committee to the Hon'ble President.

OneIndia News